... several aspects of Michigan football following the major scare at Northwestern. He touched on...
• The early part of the game: "I was as surprised as everybody to see Northwestern be able to put up 17 points on us in the first half, regardless of how the offense was going. I don't think anyone would have anticipated that Northwestern would be able to move the ball, move the chains, as consistently as they were able to, especially early in the game.
"Not only were we giving stuff up on defense, but offensively, we kind of took a different approach. You saw a lot of shotgun. I think [junior tailback] Karan Higdon had maybe three carries in the whole first quarter. They were throwing a lot on first down.
"We did a lot of what we aren't. Do what you do well when you're on the road. That's how you get your team going, and we came out flinging the ball. I don't know if we were trying to pass to open up the run or whatever, but it bit us in the you know what, and we had to fight back from that."
• Junior quarterback Shea Patterson's leadership: "He did a very good job managing the game and taking over when he needed to take over, especially considering it's still early in the season and he's just getting a feel for everything. You saw him going into the receiving corps, you saw him going into the offensive line area and talking amongst his guys, trying to get everybody on the same page.
"That's what you need out of a quarterback. You've got your different groups, and for all of them to work together as a unit, you've got to have someone keeping everybody together. You saw him doing that, not only on the sidelines but also on the field. The ball is in his hands on third down, and he's keeping his eyes downfield, making throws, giving guys chances. If there's no one open, he's taking off with it.
"He didn't get a lot of help. I thought our receivers, especially early, really, really struggled to get separation. There were a lot of coverage sacks, even though they didn't get sacks — they were throw-aways and things like that. He wasn't getting much help from his guys.
"There are other teams that, if we don't get separation from our receivers, he's not going to be able to scramble around like that. It was good to see, and encouraging. It also was a little bit concerning that we weren't getting more from other players on the field."
• Higdon getting called for holding while being tackled: "It was on par with what was going on. It was a poor performance, football-wise. Fox broadcasting … I don't ever want to watch a game on Fox, ever again. We couldn't get a whole series in without commercial breaks, so it was hard to see it again.
"I went back and watched it again. I was thinking, all right, they messed up the number. They called the first number they saw, and someone was guilty of holding on that call. They just need to relax. I went back and watched all five guys across the board, watched the receiver out on the edge. There wasn't a single hold that I saw that was obvious. If that was who they called it on, No. 22, I hope the Big Ten is doing some investigating. Vegas had some input on what happened there, in my opinion.
"That's a Buffalo Wild Wings buzzer button, or something. I don't know. It's no fun when you're on the side of the team that needs to come back and needs that first down. If we don't get that first down and we end up losing this game, I don't know where that goes, to the upper levels of officiating to get that reviewed.
"That's an incredibly awful call at an incredibly critical moment of that game. That ref needs to provide an explanation of that call if he wants to keep his job, at least in my opinion."
• Concerns about the game plan: "We came out with a very strange game plan, schematically, in the first quarter. For us to only run the ball three or four times, and open up with passes on first down consistently, that's what's taking us off the field.
"Once we started running the ball consistently on first down, we got five, six yards a carry. We could have gotten more separation at the receiver position and given Shea more targets, but if we would have gone in with a game plan of staying more true to what our identity has been so far this year — running the ball and making them stop that first — I think we would have been in a completely different position.
"I'm not a fan of how we approached this game, from an offensive game plan standpoint. I know I'm just a petty guy in the stands watching, but that's what I think. We really had a poor passing attack going in and game plan going in.
"Defensively, we kept giving up the same thing, over and over again. We kept giving up the skinny post in man coverage to the slot receiver. It was there all day. We never made an adjustment. It was baffling to me that we continued to give that up. Those were the two things I thought put us in the hole."
Here is the full podcast: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/michigan-wolverines-football-post-game-podcast-ryan-van-bergen-3
• The early part of the game: "I was as surprised as everybody to see Northwestern be able to put up 17 points on us in the first half, regardless of how the offense was going. I don't think anyone would have anticipated that Northwestern would be able to move the ball, move the chains, as consistently as they were able to, especially early in the game.
"Not only were we giving stuff up on defense, but offensively, we kind of took a different approach. You saw a lot of shotgun. I think [junior tailback] Karan Higdon had maybe three carries in the whole first quarter. They were throwing a lot on first down.
"We did a lot of what we aren't. Do what you do well when you're on the road. That's how you get your team going, and we came out flinging the ball. I don't know if we were trying to pass to open up the run or whatever, but it bit us in the you know what, and we had to fight back from that."
• Junior quarterback Shea Patterson's leadership: "He did a very good job managing the game and taking over when he needed to take over, especially considering it's still early in the season and he's just getting a feel for everything. You saw him going into the receiving corps, you saw him going into the offensive line area and talking amongst his guys, trying to get everybody on the same page.
"That's what you need out of a quarterback. You've got your different groups, and for all of them to work together as a unit, you've got to have someone keeping everybody together. You saw him doing that, not only on the sidelines but also on the field. The ball is in his hands on third down, and he's keeping his eyes downfield, making throws, giving guys chances. If there's no one open, he's taking off with it.
"He didn't get a lot of help. I thought our receivers, especially early, really, really struggled to get separation. There were a lot of coverage sacks, even though they didn't get sacks — they were throw-aways and things like that. He wasn't getting much help from his guys.
"There are other teams that, if we don't get separation from our receivers, he's not going to be able to scramble around like that. It was good to see, and encouraging. It also was a little bit concerning that we weren't getting more from other players on the field."
• Higdon getting called for holding while being tackled: "It was on par with what was going on. It was a poor performance, football-wise. Fox broadcasting … I don't ever want to watch a game on Fox, ever again. We couldn't get a whole series in without commercial breaks, so it was hard to see it again.
"I went back and watched it again. I was thinking, all right, they messed up the number. They called the first number they saw, and someone was guilty of holding on that call. They just need to relax. I went back and watched all five guys across the board, watched the receiver out on the edge. There wasn't a single hold that I saw that was obvious. If that was who they called it on, No. 22, I hope the Big Ten is doing some investigating. Vegas had some input on what happened there, in my opinion.
"That's a Buffalo Wild Wings buzzer button, or something. I don't know. It's no fun when you're on the side of the team that needs to come back and needs that first down. If we don't get that first down and we end up losing this game, I don't know where that goes, to the upper levels of officiating to get that reviewed.
"That's an incredibly awful call at an incredibly critical moment of that game. That ref needs to provide an explanation of that call if he wants to keep his job, at least in my opinion."
• Concerns about the game plan: "We came out with a very strange game plan, schematically, in the first quarter. For us to only run the ball three or four times, and open up with passes on first down consistently, that's what's taking us off the field.
"Once we started running the ball consistently on first down, we got five, six yards a carry. We could have gotten more separation at the receiver position and given Shea more targets, but if we would have gone in with a game plan of staying more true to what our identity has been so far this year — running the ball and making them stop that first — I think we would have been in a completely different position.
"I'm not a fan of how we approached this game, from an offensive game plan standpoint. I know I'm just a petty guy in the stands watching, but that's what I think. We really had a poor passing attack going in and game plan going in.
"Defensively, we kept giving up the same thing, over and over again. We kept giving up the skinny post in man coverage to the slot receiver. It was there all day. We never made an adjustment. It was baffling to me that we continued to give that up. Those were the two things I thought put us in the hole."
Here is the full podcast: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/michigan-wolverines-football-post-game-podcast-ryan-van-bergen-3
